“Last mile” broadband service can be effectively diagnosed remotely, end-to-end, if the broadband line is up and connected. Data can be remotely retrieved from the customer modem or gateway or other communicable customer premises equipment (CPE) via various protocols. Data can also be retrieved from the network equipment terminating at the network-end of the broadband connection, including: the Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM), Optical Line Termination (OLT), Cable-modem termination system (CMTS), Multi-Service Access Node (MSAN), or Access Node (AN). Since the broadband line is up and running, many details about the line conditions, performance, channel, noise, etc., can be retrieved remotely and automatically from the CPE.
Broadband services that are disconnected are more difficult to diagnose remotely or automatically. Here, disconnected generally means that the broadband line is incapable of data communications, so it does not provide data connectivity between the customer's premises and the diagnostic equipment in the broadband network. A single-ended line test (SELT) or metallic line test (MELT) can perform some electrical tests from the network end of a disconnected DSL line, and an Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry (TDR) test can be performed from the network end of an optical fiber. However, data about the customer premises' end of the broadband line can only be manually retrieved, typically by the customer calling in a trouble report over a telephone and then by dispatching a technician to the customer's premises. Repair or remediation of disconnected broadband services is usually manual, either by the broadband service provider's technicians or by the customer. The customer may be guided by generally available self-help information, or by communicating with a customer service representative (CSR) over the phone or via messaging. A technician dispatched to the customer's site uses portable test equipment and their own expertise to diagnose the problem with the connection and to effectuate a manual repair, which may be costly for the service provider.
What is needed is a way to address the situation that occurs when a broadband communications service is inoperable or unstable so that is not possible to transport diagnostic and configuration information between the customer-premises equipment (CPE) for the service and a broadband network management device that performs automated diagnostic and reconfiguration across the broadband service.